I blog about my jewelry inspirations. Readers will find that various elements of nature are my inspirations. Of course, I include jewelry making tips. This blog also includes some of my favorite Etsy shops, bead shops and jewelry customers.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Jeans inspire me! I love my jeans so much that I sometimes save my favorite pairs and recycle them into beads. Then I repurpose them into jewelry like this necklace. In this necklace I paired the denim beads with large red lacquered pearls. I used one of my favorite color combinations- red, white, and blue. This necklace looks great with denim or white. You can find it in my shop at http://www.baymoondesign.etsy.com

I found a great giveaway by a team member. I am a member of a very supportive team of etsy shop owners--The Etsy Treasury Team also known as etteam. Jaci Wollenberg is of my fellow members is having a giveaway. It's a $25 gift certificate that can be used at any one of her 3 Etsy shops, By the Way, By the Wayside, and By the By. To enter visit my team's blog for the details. The blog is located at http://etsytreasuryteam.blogspot.com/ . Personally, I am hoping to win it. I adore her denim and chocolate scarf. The combination of blue and brown is another one of my favorites. I wear jeans a lot and it is perfect to pair with jeans. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Making earring cards is easy. All you need is a Stampin Up slit punch and a hole punch. I learned this little trick from one of my favorite Stampin Up demonstrator Emma. I have had success in selling handmade cards with earrings so I have decided to expand this line. I really enjoy making cards and I love owls. The result of this love is this special Saint Patrick's Day card which include a pair of owl earrings in side of the card.

With my upcoming trip to Ireland and Saint Patrick's Day around the corner, I have had green on my mind. Spring has also been on my mind. Even though it may snow tonight, I enjoyed a walk on Friday in 70 degree weather. Some of the lawns are greening up and I see daffodils sticking their heads up. Crazy weather!

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day to all! Owl Always Love You!
I am grateful to have a wonderful family and supportive friends to celebrate Valentine's Day with.

Being crafty and knowing my daughter loves owls, I designed this owl themed card with her in mind. Inside of the card I have included a pair of silver owl earrings for her. I know that she will love the card and earrings and forgive me for not getting it in the mail until Valentine's Day. When you are crafty, your projects don't always get done exactly on time but they are one of a kind.

I used a number of my Stampin' Up punches to make this card. I love their owl punch which I used to create the owls on the front of the card. The branch is from their bird punch. "Owl always love you" saying is stamped with black ink and I used the oval punch on white paper and the oval scallop on black and white polka dot paper. Inside the card, I used the slit punch and whole punch to create the earring holders. I used my heart punch for the trim on the bottom of the card. Once again I used black ink for my Happy Valentine's Day.
I love the Stampin' Up punches.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

I just saw the 2010 film "The Social Network" which if you haven't seen it is a film about the founding of the social networking website Facebook and the resulting lawsuits. It is an amazing story which brought together some interesting historical facts that I was unaware of. For example, I had no idea that Napster co-founder Sean Parker had a role in Facebook. My knowledge of Napster goes back to my children's teen years when they were using Napster much to my dismay. I lectured them endlessly about the dangers of computer viruses and the importance of intellectual property. As my children grew older they learned the hard way. Viruses crashed their computers a number of times. Napster was shut down. Many of these events gave me fuel for my lessons at school. As a librarian, I taught lessons on these topics. I also discouraged my middle school students from participating in many social networking places like Facebook.

To Sew With Love

This past summer, I began to see what Facebook is all about. I thought I would use it to help promote my jewelry and meet fellow artisans. Social networking is suppose to help you meet people with like interests. Esty, where I have my online store, is reworking the site to utilize social networking features. Recent changes to Etsy have resulted in my establishing deeper relationships with fellow artisans . I am pretty new to it, but I have met some artisans who use it very well. Recently, I met a fellow Etsy artisan that has very cute items like the headband I have pictured in her online shop She has a very well developed blog with all kinds of social networking tools on her blog To Sew With Love. She and her sister co-author this blog. Note: We both use Bogger, but she uses it better! I am going to learn a lot about social networking from her. She has definitely mastered it. Interestingly, the bloggers Lelanie and Laarnie started as a Facebook group. Both are mothers who love to sew for their kids. Lelanie lives in Mallorca, Spain and has 2 children. She has a BA in Language and Literature and an MBA degree. Do you know what she is most proud of? It is being a mother! I admire her for that. She certainly has much to be proud of. Be sure to check out her blog for craft ideas and giveaways. Her current giveaway are these earrings by Evgeniya who also has a blog. Evgeniya is from Moscow and her blog features an American style meatloaf. Go figure!